Grotesque

This is a very dark novel written by Natsuo Kirino (Out, Real World). You feel gloom spread on every page. A story about 2 sisters. They have a Japanese mother and a Swiss father. The youngest sister, Yuriko, is very beautiful while her unname elder sister is so ordinary. As usual people always compare sisters. Yuriko was embraced by many people. Her elder sister has nothing. This situation leads to a hatred. Deep hatred. To prove that the elder sister can do something, she studies hard and finally accepted in one of prestigious school in Japan, Q School. But things are still not her side. This school is not like she dreams of. She experiences horrible things there especially when her sister, Yuriko, finally got accepted in that school, too.

There is also a girl named Kazue. She is actually a brainy girl. She also goes to Q school and becomes Yuriko's elder sister classmate. The three of them got terrible moments there that at last put them all in a bad destiny.

After graduating from Q school, Yuriko's elder sister gets a job in a small company. At the same time Kazue is accepted in a big company and gets good position. But Kazue still feels not satisfied with her life. Therefore she at last does two totally different things in her life by becoming a 9-to-5 worker at her office and transforming herself as a prostitute at night. While Yuriko has never finished her school since she was dropped out from Q school. She becomes a prostitute since then. As they already expected finally they meet their tragic ending. They both are found dead by a brutal murder.

I feel sorry for all characters appear in this novel. They are all looking for love. Unfortunately they can't meet it. They have no one to support them, neither family nor environment. There is no one to talk to. No one listens. They are all victims. How poor they are.

This novel is told in a very detail way. It moves a bit slow. But I salute the author's great research about the night life of the prostitute. From her vivid description we might catch how the prostitutes thinks about their profession, how risky their jobs are, their worries and their fear. One thing that I learn from this novel is your surrounding is your everything. If you are raised by love and affection and surrounded by comfortable environment, you will end up as a caring and lovely person. A good lesson for parents.

Already translated in bahasa by PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama on October 2010. A quite thick novel, 628 pages, but worth to read.